Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which projects received funding from each regional Government office through the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund in  (a) 2006-07,  (b) 2007-08 and  (c) 2008-09.

Shahid Malik: I refer the hon. Member to the letter sent by my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Hazel Blears) to the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman) on 24 January 2008 which provided details of the pathfinder projects in 2007-08—the first year that Communities and Local Government funded local authorities for this work, A copy of the letter is in the Library of the House.
	In 2008-09, the mechanism by which the Department paid funds to local authorities for work to prevent violent extremism changed, moving from a 'pathfinder' approach to mainstreaming the funding through the Area Based Grant. My right hon. Friend the Member for Salford wrote to the hon. Member for Wycombe on 2 April 2009 explaining that funding for preventing violent extremism was paid to local authorities through the non ring-fenced Area Based Grant in 2008-09. As with other funding streams provided through the Area Based Grant, authorities are not required to provide any additional information other than that provided in their statutory accounts, statistical returns and Whole of Government Accounts returns. However, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Mr. Khan) wrote to all authorities on 12 February to make clear that despite the non ring-fenced nature of the funding continued close working between localities and central Government was critical in developing understanding of the impact of this new policy area.
	Following a request from the hon. Member for Wycombe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford undertook to provide information about groups in receipt of funding from local authorities in 2008-09 and subsequently wrote to him on 1 May 2009. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library of the House.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many improvised explosive device attacks there have been on British forces in Afghanistan in each month since January 2008.

Bob Ainsworth: Records of incidents for the whole of Afghanistan are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Data are more readily available for attacks within Regional Command (South), which includes the majority of UK forces deployed to Afghanistan. However, it is not possible, except at disproportionate cost, to identify attacks directed only at British forces given the multinational nature of forces operating in Regional Command (South).
	Between 1 January 2008 and 31 May 2009 there were a total of 1,261 improvised explosive device attacks in Regional Command (South).
	
		
			   Improvised explosive device attacks 
			 January 2008 54 
			 February 2008 27 
			 March 2008 51 
			 April 2008 32 
			 May 2008 31 
			 June 2008 14 
			 July 2008 115 
			 August 2008 120 
			 September 2008 106 
			 October 2008 90 
			 November 2008 99 
			 December 2008 104 
			 January 2009 83 
			 February 2009 78 
			 March 2009 85 
			 April 2009 74 
			 May 2009 98 
		
	
	These figures do not include improvised explosive device finds with no detonation or improvised explosive device false alarms. These data are based on information derived from a number of sources and can only be an estimate, not least because of the difficulties in ensuring a consistent interpretation of the basis of collating statistics in a complex fast-moving multinational operational environment.